Our Voice

We're pleased to announce that we are now signing people up for our next Healthy Parent Carer course which will be running online for 6 weeks, every Tuesday morning, starting straight after the May Half-term Holidays. 

This is not a parenting course, or about how you can get support for your child/young person - it is about your own well-being and will be run for small groups by trained facilitators who are also parent carers and understand the challenges. 

Please see the flyer here for full details of the course, what it is about and who it is for. 

If you are interested in attending the course from 6th June, please click on the link here to complete the short form, by 9.30 am Thursday 18th May so that we can get back to you before the School holidays. 

Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis (including those who registered when we were recruiting for our April- May course), but there will be additional courses in each half-a-term which we will offer to those unsuccessful in obtaining a place on the first course. These will include some courses with a translator available (Turkish, Somalian or Bengali) and options to attend face-to-face or online.

If you would prefer to attend the programme at a later date please click the same link and indicate what your preferred timing is,  and we will come back to you in due course. 

There are only a limited number of places on each course so don't delay! 

Relaxed performance of ‘Wicked’ Thursday 1^st June (Half-term)

Go Live Theatre Projects (formerly Mousetrap Theatre Projects) have announced a Relaxed Performance of the well-loved musical, Wicked, at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London.

Taking place on Thursday, 1st June 2023 at 1.30 pm (during Summer half-term week), this Relaxed Performance will be tailored for families with a child, or children, who would benefit from a more relaxed and welcoming theatre environment. This special performance of Wicked will have adjustments to sound and lighting and is suitable for young people on the autism spectrum, those with learning disabilities or other sensory and communication needs.

Tickets are on sale now and are being offered at very reduced prices (£7.50 to £12.50 for children and £12.50 to £20 for adults).  More information and booking here.

We are pleased to announce that we now have funding to continue running our popular Healthy Parent Carer Programme for the next year.

We'll be running the first six-week course online every Tuesday, starting straight after the Easter Holidays. 

This is not a parenting course, or about how you can get support for your child/young person - it is about your own well-being, and will be run by trained facilitators who are also parent-carers and understand the challenges. 

Please see the flyer here for full details of the course, what it is about and who it is for. 

If you are interested in attending the course from 18th April, please click on the link at  https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/HPCcourseOV  to complete the short form, by 9.30 am this Thursday 30th March so that we can get back to you before the Easter School holidays. 

Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis, but there will be additional courses in each half-a-term which we will offer to those unsuccessful in obtaining a place on the first course. These will include some courses with a translator available (Turkish, Somalian or Bengali) and options to attend face-to-face or online.

If you would prefer to attend the programme at a later date please click the same link and indicate what your preferred timing is,  and we will come back to you in due course. 

There are only a limited number of places on each course so don't delay! 

Thinking about what to do over the Easter school holidays? See here for our booklet on events and activities for children and young people with SEND.

The Local Authority's booklet on playschemes for the Easter school holidays can be found here and there is additional information about the playschemes on the Local Offer here, and more on Easter holiday activities on the Local Offer Spotlight here. 

Enfield is about to undergo an ‘Area SEND Inspection’. This means that, from 16^th March to 24^th March, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will jointly inspect how well the Local Authority, Health Services, and other partners, are working together to improve the experiences and outcomes for children and young people with additional needs.

This is different to a school inspection as it focuses on all the support for your child/young person across the Local Authority, Education, Social Care and Health (rather than on specific schools).  

It is a really important exercise, and it is essential for parents and carers to make sure that their voices are heard by the inspectors so that they get a full picture of families’ experiences.

As part of the inspection, parents and carers and children and young people are invited to complete a short survey. You can access the surveys at https://ofsted.smartsurvey.co.uk/p/AreaSend/10257443

You should complete the survey if you have a child or young person aged 0-25 who has a Special Educational Need or Disability, whether or not they have an EHCP, are on SEN support or have a formal diagnosis. If you have more than one child with additional needs, please complete one survey for each child.

You should be able to complete the survey in about 15 minutes or so, but there are several open questions so it may take longer if you have a lot to say!

There is a separate survey for your child or young person to complete.

You can see the covering letter for parents and carers here and the covering letter for children and young people here.

The surveys will close at 9 am on Tuesday 14^th March so please don’t delay!

This page Area SEND inspections: information about ongoing inspections - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) gives more information about what the Ofsted and CQC inspection is about and includes versions of the information for parents and carers, and for children and young people, in Easy Read and British Sign Language versions

The Our Voice newsletter for Spring 2023 has been published today and will be uploaded to our newsletter page shortly. 

In the meantime, you can see a copy here. 

Please Save the Date for Our Voice's seventh 'Meet the SEND Heads' Parents Conference on Thursday 22nd June 2023. 

This event will be held at the Green Towers Community Centre in Edmonton Green, from 10 am (registration from 9.30) until 2.30 pm. 

The event will include a Q&A session with a panel of the LA and Heath Heads of Service responsible for services supporting children and young people with SEND. 

There will also be opportunities for one-to-one meetings with professionals from the various service areas, to discuss specific issues relating to your own child/young person. 

See our flyer here for more details. 

Please note - this event has been rescheduled from the original date of 2nd March, due to the planned teachers' strike on that day.

See our booklet here for information on events and activities for young people with SEND, over the February half-term school holidays.

The Local Authority's booklet on playschemes for the February half-term school holidays can be found here. and there is additional information about the playschemes on the Local Offer here. 

If your child/young person has an EHCP and lives/attends school in the London Borough of Enfield, Enfield Council is inviting you to complete their new Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Parent/Carer Questionnaire. You should also have received an email about this from the Council.

The questionnaire can be found at https://online1.snapsurveys.com/8xvado. It should take about 10 – 15 minutes, and your responses will be completely confidential. Please complete and submit the questionnaire by 10:00 am on Friday 10 February.

This is an important questionnaire which was developed by the LA in response to some of the issues raised at our ‘Meet the SEND Heads’ Parents’ Conference in March 22. The aim is to help the Local Authority to better understand your experiences as parent/carers around the areas of education, health, and social care; annual reviews; and accessing information, advice, and support, in order to help focus plans to improve local services and support. An overview of the results will be shared at the next Our Voice Meet the SEND Heads Conference.

If you have any queries about this questionnaire or need help with sharing your views, please email haveyoursay@enfield.gov.uk.  There will be a separate questionnaire later in the year for parents of children and young people with additional needs who do not have an EHCP.  

Family Swim sessions

Edmonton Leisure Centre offer Disability Friendly Family Swimming sessions every Sunday from 11 am to 12 pm.

The cost is £3.00 per session per person (adult or junior). This is a concessionary rate (no need to purchase the concession card itself).

Further details are available here.

Fusion Lifestyle advise pre-booking your spaces beforehand to avoid disappointment as there is limited capacity. You can find the booking under 'Lane & General Swimming' on the Fusion Lifestyle app, which you can download via https://download.mobilepro.uk.com/a/55U2?p=6.

Please note - these are NOT swimming LESSONS but are swimming sessions that the whole family can use to swim with the young person with disabilities.

SEND Swimming courses Jan 23 

SEND Swimming lessons are also available from 21st / 22nd January at Edmonton Leisure Centre and Albany Leisure Centre. 

An opportunity for young people with SEND to learn to swim with specially trained instructors, over a 10-week course. Lessons will be 1:5 ratio and parents/carers will be needed in the pool to support their children.

Places are limited and on a first come first served basis. To book your place please email sport@enfield.gov.uk

Saturdays at Edmonton Leisure Centre

21^st Jan to 1^st April 23 (excluding 18^th Feb) 10 weeks

·  12.15 to 12.45 5- 11 years and 11-25 years Autism

·  13.00 – 13.30 5-11 years and 11-25  years Learning/physical disability

Sundays at Albany Leisure Centre

21^st Jan – 2^nd April 2023 (excluding 19^th Feb) 10 weeks

· 13.30 to 14.00 pm – 11 -25 years Autism

You must be able to commit to the majority of the 10-week course.

Parents/carers will need to enter the pool to support their children.